Paperback Fiction Recommendations, Summer 2015

It's fin de siècle Paris. The Eiffel Tower graces the skyline, intelligentsia grace the cafes, and Toulouse-Latrec graces the brothels—as do most artists. Baker Lucien Lessard longs to be one of them! Soon, however, his painting and, of course, a girl, lead him into a mystery of art and human nature that stretches from Van Gogh's suicide to the dawn of civilization.

Vacationing with her playboy father and his for-the-moment lover, Cecile is enjoying a self-indulgent summer of swimming and sunning in the South of France. Things go south when Daddy starts a new relationship with her dead mom's friend and head further south when Cecile takes it upon herself to break up the new couple. About six feet further south.

I don’t usually like short stories, but I picked this up because I wanted to know if B.J. Novak, one of the writers and actors for The Office, could write fiction. To my delight, he can, as he proves with these clever, funny, and poignant stories. Novak writes about topics no one else would think of, and infuses them all with his wit and insight.

Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s the funniest, quirkiest, most whimsical short story writer this bookseller has ever read. A bestselling author in his native Israel, Etgar Keret has quickly made his way to the top of the bestsellers list of my heart with his innate ability to take unremarkable situations and spin them slowly and surely into strange and magical tales.

After humiliating herself on local television, 14-year-old Johanna transforms herself into Dolly Wilde, a cooler-than-cool music reviewer who’s big into sex, drugs, and rock and roll. All is well until Johanna starts to lose herself in her alter ego, at which point she questions where she ends and Dolly begins. A laugh-out-loud roller coaster ride through the best and worst parts about being completely embarrassed of your teenage self.